FINALLY TIME FOR NASCAR TO TAME `TIGER'

So what will it take for NASCAR to suspend a Winston Cup driver? From the looks of what happened Sunday in Bristol, Tenn., it may take a serious injury.

It has become clear that fines from NASCAR are not enough to temper the wild outbursts of Tony "The Tiger" Stewart. The time has come for the sanctioning body to sit down the "Rushville Rocket" and cool his jets.

Unfortunately, NASCAR doesn't have the guts to suspend Stewart for his reckless actions following the Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway. A last lap battle for fourth place with Jeff Gordon sent Stewart spinning from a top-five finish to 25th. At that point, Stewart illustrated just how out of control his temper can get.

After crossing the finish line, Stewart sped around the track to catch Gordon. As Gordon made his way down pit road, Stewart barreled into view, ramming Gordon in retaliation.

Two drivers trading paint after a race is nothing new in Winston Cup, but Stewart's decision to send Gordon a message on a cramped pit road -- with crew members feet away -- put lives in danger. And the last thing NASCAR needs now is a reckless driver spitting in the face of safety.

So what does NASCAR do? A punishment that makes a slap on the wrist seem harsh: Stewart was fined $10,000 (he can make that for an autograph signing appearance) and placed on probation until Aug. 29.

Stewart's punishment seemed even more hollow after NASCAR fined John Andretti's crew chief, Greg Steadman, $20,000 on Wednesday. Did Steadman rap someone with a tire iron? As a matter of fact, Steadman was nabbed because the roof of Andretti's car was lower than the minimum height requirement. Shame, shame.

Stewart's punishment laughs in the face of NASCAR's stance that safety is the No.1 concern in Winston Cup.

And that's what is scary about Stewart: no one was surprised. His fiery temper was legendary even before he started racing stockcars. But exchanging words, or even punches, in the garage after a race is one thing; using a 3,400-pound stockcar as a weapon is another.

And NASCAR's pat response -- "We gave 'em a talkin' to" -- smacks of movie drama a la "Days of Thunder." But theatrics from NASCAR aren't going to cut it anymore when it comes to Stewart.

If NASCAR had any backbone and truly cared about safety, it would have suspended Stewart for this week's race at Texas Motor Speedway. But NASCAR, with it's money first, safety second attitude, would never sit Stewart for fear of upsetting a quality sponsor such as Home Depot. The message NASCAR does send is that it loves two of its superstars going at it. On Monday, the headline on NASCAR.com read, "Stewart Fined $10,000," and under that was a link to "Video: The Incident." Great, promote Stewart's idiocy.

The fact is, NASCAR couldn't pay enough for the publicity that comes from feuding between two of its stars. Unfortunately, we aren't talking about the WWF's "The Rock" and "Stone Cold Steve Austin." It's real life and real danger. And after four deaths in the last 11 months, ensuring the safety of everyone -- from drivers to crew members -- should be NASCAR's No. 1 priority.

"I could have hurt somebody, in all reality," Stewart said after the race. "I apologize to Home Depot and all of our sponsors for doing that because that wasn't right."

Apologies are nice, but until NASCAR truly decides to make safety a priority, Stewart will be allowed to continue to ride roughshod through the series.

Deery Leaves NASCAR

NASCAR management lost a quality individual last week when Tom Deery resigned.

Deery had served as vice president in charge of the NASCAR Weekly Racing Series since 1998 and also oversaw NASCAR's regional touring series since 1999.

Stafford Motor Speedway, Waterford Speedbowl and Thompson International Speedway are each NASCAR Weekly Racing Series tracks and each host the Featherlite Modified Series and Busch North Series.

"Essentially, the management and myself were not eye to eye on some of the things that need to happen in the future," Deery told the Rockford (Ill.) Register Star. "They have certain things they want to advance and it didn't necessarily involve the type of management style that Tom Deery brought to the table."